Dragon of Summer
by Natsu is Awesome
Summary: Within the world of Remnant, while there are those who wish to save the world with Dust, the lifeline in hope, there are also those who wish to plunge in the darkness of Grimm, creatures of fear and malice. In this struggle, only one holds the outcome in his hands, hands of someone more than man.


**-As of this story starting to be written- Literally no one responded to my AN about me making this or the other story, and since they are** _ **1**_ **vote apart, -as of this story starting to be written- I'm writing the first chapter for both of them and making a new poll with only those 2 as the choices.**

 **So after you're done reading this, go check out my other story and vote on my poll for which one I should continue to write after I finish my other story; Awoken Dragon.**

 **Without further ado, welcome ladies and gentlemen to** _ **Dragon of Summer!**_

 **XxXxXxXx**

The world was a dangerous place, anyone could tell you that. Creatures of negativity were found in every stretch of the globe. Killing just because they felt like it.

Over the course of recorded history, there were countless studies on those creatures; Grimm.

No one found that they needed to eat or sleep. They were just hell bent on destruction and chaos. These horrifying monsters should have been the one force uniting all sentient races to fight against.

But humans are idiots. Pushing and fighting anything that was different from them, enslaving Faunus just for having animal features on their bodies, and beating the sympathizers so they would stay quiet.

Wars were fought before, but nothing like this. Despite Mistral and Mantel believing that removing emotion from all would turn the Grimm docile, they were opposed by Vale and Vacuo. The nations fought for their right of expression and freedom for all.

Years passed before it finally ended, the King of Vale being offered the position to be the King of them all. Yet the humble man decreed that there would be no more monarchies, but a democracy for all people to participate in. He freed all those that were slaves from their shackles and gave the faunus rights equal to all other humans.

The four kingdoms strengthened the bond between them as well, creating a communication system and placing a receiver within each of their capitals, establishing schools to train the young in protecting themselves and others from Grimm, even going so far as to create a festival where the various cultures of the world can be celebrated with dances, parades and a combat tournament.

But during the war, many things were done, many things that were regretful and one thing that would change the course of the world's future.

 **XxXx**

Cursing as his cape caught on a branch, the scruffy man swatted at the wood, cutting the log and yanking it out of his clothes.

He was searching through this neck of the woods to find a specific Grimm. The mission stated it was a Beringel, while a normal huntsman could deal with one solo, this was a group of ten. So they needed someone with much more experience to fight.

That, and Ozpin sent this news his way because he knew that the male Branwen needed some work to keep his mind off of Summer. Tai was dealing with the kids and teaching, but Qrow wasn't like that. As much as he hated it, he couldn't just drink away his problems here.

Qrow had already managed to separate the horde of gorillas with traps and led them along with himself as bait. All he needed to do now was finish off the last one.

Nearly a week had passed just finding these bastards, but killing them only took about fourteen hours, counting the time it took to set the traps.

Shifting through the brush, he heard the Grimm pounding and roaring. This was the one he got the jump on and slashed its eyes to get the others' attention.

Pushing a branch out of his way to see the monster, he was surprised at the scene before him.

The Beringel was flailing and screaming as heard, but it wasn't alone.

A pink and red blur was laughing as it evaded all the blindly thrown punches and climbed around the deadly creature.

The veteran huntsman was at a loss for words as he saw a child give a Grimm a noogie.

"This is for messing up my house!" Seeing the kid actually stop moving for a second, Qrow could make out scales and a set of horns poking through their pink hair.

As the Gorilla punched at the boy, he just let go and rolled along the Grimm's back. Letting the punch hit the monster's own face.

Snickering at the sight, the boy gave his location away to the blind beast as it slammed the ground.

Before the child was flattened, Qrow sprinted forward and opened fire on its back, making the beast flinch in pain and miss the kid.

"Get the hell out of here you idiot." He did not want to see a kid die, and with his Semblance, there's no telling what could happen.

"No way, that jerk face broke my stuff." The kid climbed up the monster's arm and went back to its head, this time gnawing on it.

The Huntsman groaned in annoyance as this kid wouldn't leave, he couldn't fight without potentially injuring him.

Each fist that tried to hit the creature's face was pulled away by a scythe as Qrow tried to keep the pink haired kid from becoming a smear on a Grimm's knuckles.

"Get off of that thing, I'm going to kill it right now." He finally managed to stab the blade through both hands of the Beringel. "So jump off!"

Turning around, Qrow heaved the heavy creature over his shoulder and into a tree, uprooting the plant under the monster's weight.

Panting from such an act of sheer brute force, Qrow readied himself for the last strike he would need to make against his target.

"Woah, how'd you do that?" A voice came from above. Tilting his head, Qrow saw the little reptilian kid, flying in the sky with scaly wings.

"What the what…" He'd seen countless faunus in his life, but none of them had such an extreme animal appendage. Shaking off his shock, he refocused on the battle. "Just stay out of the way, I'll take you back to your family after I kill this thing."

"No way, I'm gonna beat up this jerk!" The hardhead dived forward. Taking a deep inhale… only to get his face grabbed by the thrashing Grimm.

Before Qrow could even swing his weapon, a stream of fire poured out of the hole he left in the monster's hand, pouring through the opening and burning its face.

The creature of malice let go of the child and smacked itself to put out the fires to less than successful results.

"Hake hat, hou heanie." The boy talked with his tongue outside his mouth, showing that it was now burnt.

Grabbing the kid by the back of his pants, Qrow threw him back as he slashed through the Grimm's head and killed it in one swipe. What he _would_ have done instantly if this brat didn't try to get himself killed.

Taking a breath to calm down, he retracted his weapon and put it on his back before talking to the kid.

"What are you doing out here, shouldn't a kid like you be playing on their scroll or something?"

He tilted his head. "A throll?"

"Look, just tell me where you live and I'll walk you back."

Staring down at his own burnt tongue, he nodded and lead the way. It took about an hour of walking but when they got there, Qrow found himself surprised by the child once again.

It was half a stack of sticks and vines, the other half was gone with clear tracks of a Beringel.

The rosette walked through the rubble with no problem and grabbed a haunch of black meat he had hanging and ate it.

"Ah, that's better." Looking back to Qrow, he waved. "Thanks for your help against that jerk, I coulda taken him on my own, but you made that hole in his hand and helped out a bunch."

"Um, kid-"

"My name's Natsu."

"Okay, Natsu, where are your parents?"

"My what?" He tilted his head in confusion before he took another bite.

"Your Mom and Dad… and what is it that you're eating." He grabbed the meat from Natsu's hands. Somehow it fixed his burnt tongue and looked far to strange to be from any animal in the region.

"Well, that's…" He put on a thoughtful expression. "A Biting one from yesterday?" He honestly couldn't remember what he cooked up or when, it was, at worst, that weird tentacle thing from last week.

The oldest of the duo leaned in and hesitantly took a bite.

His eyes widened as he instantly knew what it was. During those long trips when he started to get low on rations he ate the same thing; Grimm.

Spitting it out, ignoring Natsu telling him that was 'tasty food' he wasted, he looked at the other food being hung to dry; all of the meat was black. He knelt down and looked the boy dead in the eye.

"Where is everyone else?" This kid couldn't have been alone, and feeding a child basically only Grimm could have a number of unknown effects. Plus with him having killed a group of Beringels who seemed intent to make this forest their own, they would be safer to live back in the village that entered this request in the first place.

"What do you mean, I've been here by myself longer than I can remember." He said it innocently enough, but Qrow was shocked at what Natsu said. No child could stay alive in the forest alone, least of all if their only food was Grimm.

"Listen, Scales, I can't just let you stay here on your own. You're what; seven years old?"

He seemed a little confused by the nickname, looking around to see if he was talking to anyone else. "Well, if it's me you're talkin' about, I dunno. Oh, but I did plant this seed when I first came here, you think that could say anything?"

Qrow shrugged, it was worth a shot. He wasn't a botanist, but he knew the basics of what he could and could not eat. Maybe he could make out what it was and see if it had matured.

"It's right here." He turned to a nearby tree and slammed his head against it. Apples dropping all over the floor.

Teetering around, Qrow saved the rosette from eating dirt and hoisted him up to eye level. "What are you doing?"

Eyes still spinning, Natsu just told him he was getting lunch. Extending a wing out and letting an apple roll down it, he used his opposite hand to grab it before it went down his back.

"Kid, this is an apple tree, anyone can tell you it takes years for an apple to grow. This one looks like it's been here for decades…" Looking at the bark, he saw countless gashes in the wood. Scars from the child's horns marred all over the trunk. His eyes drifted to nearby trunks and saw them all having the same marks. Turning his head up, he saw more apples in trees spanning out all around this clearing, all fully grown.

Letting the kid fly out of his hands and grab more fruit, he was wondering just what was going on. Sure all of these could have been planted at the same time, but all of them were covered with scars; faded and dull.

"Just what's going on here?"

"I don't get why you're confused. I've been here for as long as I can remember." He pilled up a few of his apples and pointed his hand at them. For a second nothing happened as he had a strained look on his face, before a blast of fire roasted the pile.

Instantly he started rolling on the floor while grabbing his wrist and trying to keep back his pained screams. "That was nothing. I'm totally fine." Natsu mostly spoke to himself through his grit teeth.

Shaking his head at the kid's stupidity, Qrow grabbed the boy's arm and checked out the burn.

"They look like second degree, which given you just shot fire through your hands, is lucky. Tell me, if this is your Semblance, why isn't your Aura kicking in?"

Calming down from his pain, Natsu looked at him confused through his teary eyes. "Semblance, Aura; what are those things? Whenever I get hurt, I just eat that black meat." Pulling some jerky out of his pocket, he took a bite and the old burnt tissue seemed to shed off.

'A power that lets him shoot fire that isn't a Semblance. I gotta tell Oz about this kid, or one better, show him.'

Letting the Faunus' arm go, Qrow tried to think of how to get the kid to come with him. "Do you get bored being here, apparently, all alone?" Yang always said how she was bored and Summer would pick her up and make her an airplane, or tickle her breathless...

"Bored?" He didn't seem to notice the older man's look of sadness. "I think I'm always busy out here."

"That's not an answer. I know a guy who's so busy that he even has to reserve his own bathroom breaks. I think he get's bored of that real quick." Jamesy really need to get shitfaced with Qrow sometimes.

Natsu started to really think about it. He would fight those black things whenever he got hungry, he hadn't really had to water or find a way to prop up his trees after they got so big. "I guess it can get boring."

"How about this, you come with me to meet someone important and I'll, I dunno, bring you to someone your age to play with?" Negotiating with kids was more like Tai and … _her_.

Looking around his clearing, Natsu frowned. He didn't want to leave this place he made his home here, but going out and playing with someone like him? That sounded like so much fun.

"Okay, but can we spend one more night here? I don't know how long i'll be gone."

Seeing the sad look on the child's face, Qrow relented. "Fine, but when we wake up, we're gonna get going. I'd rather go down the yellow brick road sooner than later."

 **XxXx**

The boat ride to Patch was, to all the other passengers, nice and calm. To Qrow, however, it was nerve-wracking. Even Natsu could tell the older man was acting different than normal; pacing around and reaching for his flask more than usual.

As much as Qrow wanted to fly, he didn't have nearly enough power behind him to reach the island from the mainland. Plus he had the kid with him. He never should have taken this job, he should have stayed with Tai. Now the kids were missing and who knows what could be happening to them. He took a swig of his drink before clenching the empty flask. Trying to hold back his fear for the kids.

It was lucky enough that Qrow was going to take a boat to reach Vale faster, but when Tai called him in a panic, he knew exactly what to do.

All he could do was wait, but that just drove him mad. Summer and Raven had left and left Ruby and Yang; There's no telling how Tai could cope to losing them.

Feeling a tug at his back, he looked to see the Faunus yanking his cape. "Mr. Qrow..." He couldn't find what to say. "Don't feel bad. By the end, everything will work out."

Staring at the kid, Qrow started to laugh. Even some random child from the forest was trying to get him to act like his usual self. "Don't worry about me, kid." He ruffled the child's hair, avoiding the horns. Trying to force a smile to help keep positive. "Who knows, maybe I'm completely overreacting... Hey, where's that sweater I bought you?" He tried to change the topic to help keep the boy from being encompassed in his gloom.

"This thing?" He pulled a blue hoodie from a bag.

"Yeah, put that on, it's chilly out already, and they said snow should fall again today."

Complying, Natsu tried to put on the sweater, fighting against it as his scales and horns tore up the insides. Finally popping his head out, alongside cotton being lodged into his hair, he had a question. "Who's they?"

He tilted his head to the other people on the ship and shook his phone. "A lot of things... hey, why don't you ask me about stuff? I'm sure you got some questions about all this stuff, you said you've been in the forest all your life."

Smiling at the chance to figure out what this stuff was Natsu helped divert Qrow's attention from the journey's length.

 **XxXx**

Despite being preoccupied by the child, the second they docked, Qrow picked up Natsu and ran to Tai's house. This really made Qrow wonder what the purpose was in buying a house in the middle of the forest?

Feeling the child's hands clasped around his neck, the drunk knew and hated that he couldn't transform. As a bird, he could reach them faster and use less energy to do so. But he couldn't just up and show the kid, he needed to keep it as much under wraps as he could.

It took nearly an hour of running to reach the house but the two finally reached the girls' last known location. It was empty, but Qrow knew Tai was searching for them and had probably called everyone in his contacts for help. With the snow still falling, their tracks had already been covered.

"Okay, Natsu, listen." With an extra weight on him during his sprint, Qrow was a little worse for wear. "I need you to stay here, if two girls come back, press and hold this button." He handed him the landline while putting his finger on '1'. "A voice will come out and you tell him I brought you here and that Yang and Ruby are back, okay?"

Staring at the strange contraption in his hand, Natsu tried to ask if he could come with him, but he already slammed the door behind him. When Natsu opened it to call out for him, he was nowhere in sight.

As the snow got thicker and thicker, Natsu knew he couldn't just stand back. Qrow helped him take out that damn dirty ape, so now he needed to help Qrow find 'Ruby and Yang'.

Looking around the house, the first room he went into smelled a bit like the scythe user's flask and had a picture of a big tan man with two kids.

Seeing as this room wouldn't help, he took the picture and searched around. The bathroom was a cacophony of hair and body wash products, and the kitchen smelled great, but Natsu had to keep going. Then he finally found the right room. There were two beds and a chest labeled 'toys'.

"I think this is it." Sniffing, he found two things that smelled the strongest; a yellow hairbrush and a big cookie pillow. Bringing them together, he breathed deeply to try and get the scent of them memorized.

He did this before to find who broke his house. It helped him figure out which one of those brutes he needed to beat up.

Making sure that he wouldn't forget the smell, Natsu went outside into the slowly escalating snow and flew as fast as he could to find them before the wind and snow blocked all their scent.

 **XxXx**

The boy didn't know how long he had been flying, but even though he couldn't see past the snow, the scent had gotten stronger. They had to be somewhere close, and Qrow was somewhere nearby too, but he couldn't make out which direction.

Trying to shake off the cold, Natsu kept flapping through ice. If he found the two girls before Qrow, he'd figure out some way to call him over. Nothing came to mind, but he could cross that bridge when he got there.

A few minutes later, he heard a roar. It was the same sound those black things made to call more around them. That was never good.

Diving towards the noise, he put his arms up to keep the branches from hitting his face. But he didn't tuck in his wings and crashed to the floor when a branch cut the insides of his right wing.

Tumbling on the floor, he pushed himself off the floor and kept going. Now even if those two weren't there, he needed to eat those things to fix himself.

Running as fast as he could through the snow, he saw an entire pack of monsters slowly inching towards the blonde girl and her wagon.

Taking a deep breath, Natsu took one more step to get closer, but as he did, he tripped up on a rock and fell back, shooting out a cone of fire into the sky as he cried out.

As the wet wood somehow caught fire, the Beowolves all turned to the bright and crackling light, distracted for a moment's notice.

Jumping from the ground, Natsu grabbed a wolf by the ears and yanked it to the side, shoving it into it's neighbor while ripping off an ear. Before he could reach the ground however, a claw slashed at him and slammed him on the floor. Crying out in pain, he rolled to the side and received a cut to his calf instead of losing his leg.

When one lunged forward, he threw a flaming punch at its head, making it crumple in on itself. Without thinking he jumped and flapped his working wing for an extra foot of space, avoiding a slash and using a flaming kick to knock its head off.

But he couldn't escape when one jumped on his chest and shoved him into the ground. Through cloudy eyes he could see a yellow blob move a red one behind it and away from the Grimm.

Despite Beowolf drool dripping on his face and his body being crushed, he smiled into the snow as they got away.

With a resounding roar, the monster reeled back to bite the boy's head off.

And with a dull thud, its own head landed on the floor as it bled over the rosette.

The weight left his body as the corpse was pulled off of him. Looking up from the ground, Natsu smiled at the drunkard.

"Hey Qrow, how'd you find me?"

"I saw your little light-show." His eyes drifted to the burning tree. "And a little birdie told me." He gestured to the blonde little girl leaning against a tree.

"She was screaming for help and said you were over here. Sorry for taking so long, after the first blast I couldn't find out where you were."

Pushing himself out of the snow, Natsu just waved at the girl. "It's no problem, we came here to find them anyways." It was then that Natsu noticed something. "Hey, I can talk! Before I shot fire from my mouth and now it's fine."

Seeing the black ooze dripping down his face, Qrow figured what fixed his tongue. Using his cape to wipe the boy's face, Qrow saw the other burns on his body.

"Come 'ere, let me take a look where you got hurt." It was strange to check for wounds when he'd been around Huntsman for so long. "You're hand is burnt and both of your legs are hurt. Sorry kid, but you're either going in the wagon, or on my back."

"Bu-"

"And no, I'm not going to let you eat a Grimm." Even if it healed the kid, he had no clue what side effects it would have on him. "I'll take you back to the house and treat you there." He didn't exactly have enough stamina to unlock his aura right now either.

"... Fine." Natsu groaned. "I'll get in the cart."

Trying to waddle by his own power, he cried out in indignation when Qrow just grabbed his hood and plopped him next to the sleeping younger sister. "Come on kiddo, either get in or get on, you can't walk either."

Looking at the older sibling, she went into the cart and sat next to Natsu.

Taking out his scroll, Qrow tried to dial a number. "No signal here, I gotta wait to tell Tai." Mumbling to himself, he just started his long trek back to the house.

Feeling the girl shiver next to him, Natsu unfurled his wing and pulled her close. "I'm Natsu, are you Ruby or Yang?"

"... I'm Yang and I want to say... sorry. You got hurt helping me, I shouldn't have come out here."

"Eh, I get hurt all the time, this is just the longest it's lasted. But what were you doing out here anyways?" The girl seemed to shrink before looking at her Uncle, using Natsu's wing as cover.

Leaning in close, Yang whispered. "Promise not to tell."

"Sure." Yang covered Natsu's mouth as he still spoke as loudly and boisterously as always.

"Shhhh!" She looked over her shoulder and Qrow was still looking dead ahead. "I was trying to find my mom. Daddy and Uncle Qrow won't say anything about her, but I'm going to find out the truth."

Natsu saw a fire burn in her eyes as she spoke. He could just tell that she would never give up. "Cool... Hey, if you think you're gonna run into those jerks again, mind letting me come along? It was fun kicking all their butts."

Yang put on a, in her opinion, 'very thinking looking face'. "Only if I'm the leader."

"Fine, but I get to eat all that I want."

Yang nodded. "I can allow that." She spoke in a high and mighty tone, not realizing that he meant eating the Grimm.

All the while Qrow was smiling at the fact of the kids being able to talk like kids. Back when he was their age, he talked about killing Grimm and keeping his sister safe... how time flies...

 **XxXxXxXx**

 **God, I suck at finding where to leave a chapter off. Anyways, if you guys haven't read** _ **Spirit of Fire**_ **already, please do and then go vote on my poll.**

 **Hope you enjoy whichever story wins. -N.I.A.**


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